30 years of robots in disguise – Transformers history

The Autobots and Decepticons have been with us for 30 years, so we take a look back at all things ‘robots in disguise’ with a nifty infographic.

With the fourth Transformers movie released last month and no sign of the franchise’s momentum slowing down, it looks like those robots in disguise are more popular than ever. Beginning as a toyline in 1984, Transformers have expanded into cartoons, comics, video games, theme park rides and most recently live-action movies, in their 30 year existence.

I was born in 1986, but I watched the original cartoon series growing up, it’s an iconic universe cemented in mine and many other peoples’ minds from childhood, and more recently many new generations have been introduced to Optimus Prime, Bumblee, Megatron and Starscream.

The infographic below is a pure nostalgia-trip for people like myself, and for those who are younger it is no-doubt a welcome insight into the Autobots’ and Decepticons’ history.

If you’ve ever wondered how you might compare in stature to your favourite Transformer you’ll want to take a look at the height chart below. You can also see how they stack up next to famous buildings and monuments – what if they’re Transformers too!? I’d love to see Stonehenge transform into a huge, hulking stone golem style Transformer... but that's just me.

We can’t see Transformers disappearing any time soon, especially with a new animated series (Transformers: Robots in Disguise) scheduled for 2015, we’re darn glad of it - here's to the next 30 years! Also keep an eye out for out review of Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark, which we'll bring you soon.